Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38811551›Full record

ArticleNature communications2024

Stochasticity, determinism, and contingency shape genome evolution of endosymbiotic bacteria.

Bret M Boyd, Ian James, Kevin P Johnson, Robert B Weiss, Sarah E Bush, Dale H Clayton, Colin Dale

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Cellular remodeling of ovarian follicular epithelial cells transmits an obligate nutritional endosymbiont in a scale insect.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Independent and repeated acquisition ofRoyal Society open science · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Bret M Boyd *Center for Biological Data Science, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, US. boydbm@vcu.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9837-3483
Ian James *School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, US.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0008-7533-2751
Kevin P JohnsonIllinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, US.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4151-816X
Robert B WeissDepartment of Human Genetics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, US.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3188-3569
Sarah E BushSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, US.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2913-4876
Dale H ClaytonSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, US.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1698-3542
Colin DaleSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, US.

Funding

National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB1239788National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB13426045National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB1925487National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB1926738National Science Foundation (NSF) DEB1926919
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Evolution results from the interaction of stochastic and deterministic processes that create a web of historical contingency, shaping gene content and organismal function. To understand the scope of this interaction, we examine the relative contributions of stochasticity, determinism, and contingency in shaping gene inactivation in 34 lineages of endosymbiotic bacteria, Sodalis, found in parasitic lice, Columbicola, that are independently undergoing genome degeneration. Here we show that the process of genome degeneration in this system is largely deterministic: genes involved in amino acid biosynthesis are lost while those involved in providing B-vitamins to the host are retained. In contrast, many genes encoding redundant functions, including components of the respiratory chain and DNA repair pathways, are subject to stochastic loss, yielding historical contingencies that constrain subsequent losses. Thus, while selection results in functional convergence between symbiont lineages, stochastic mutations initiate distinct evolutionary trajectories, generating diverse gene inventories that lack the functional redundancy typically found in free-living relatives.

Indexed as

Evolution, MolecularGenome, BacterialPhylogenyStochastic ProcessesSymbiosisAnimalsEnterobacteriaceaeMutation

Identifiers

PMID38811551
PMCPMC11137140

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.